Vending machine



- Sept. 19, 1944.

J. R. DONALDSON VENDING MACHINE Filed Jan. 22, 1944 INVEN TOR.

Patented Sept. 19, 1944" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I assess:

VENDING MACHINE Jefferson R. Donaldson, Dallas, Ten, assirnor oftwenty-five per cent to '1. C. Daniell, Dallas, '1

Application January e2. 1944, Serial a... 519,268 Claims. (01. sis-4a)This invention relates to-merchandise vending machines and it hasparticular reference to such machines especially designed for dispensingbeverages contained in bottles. g

The principal object of the invention is to provide a vendingmachine'consisting of a plurality of vertical and relatively parallelmerchandise magazines from which articles of merchandise are singly andprogressively discharged onto the inclned upper lead of a conveyor,operated by a -motor whose operative periods are effected by coincontrolled mechanism. Moreover, provision is made whereby themerchandise in an inactive magazine is held against delivery by a trapdoor equipped with a lever arrangement actuated by thereof, the rearportion being occupied by the cooling equipment in a compartment, notshown A and serving as a merchandise precooling space. In Fig. 1 thereference numeral Illa indicates the rear wall of the front compartment.The channels I! of the dispensing assembly are disposed between thefront wall (not shown) of the cabinet l0 and the rear wall Illa of thefront compartment of the cabinet, the spacing between said walls beingsomewhat greater than the length of the bottles to be dispensed.Preferably the rear the weight of the merchandise in an adjacentmagazine, plus the articles which have been re= leased onto the conveyorpreparatory to vending.

channels I! are secured by bolts, rivets, welding or the like to therear wall lila of the front compartment, and the front channels l2 arepreferably supported by trusses or struts 12:: extending from the rearchannels between the side flanges and connected with the'front channelsbetween their side flanges, whereby the front channels are supported bythe rear channels in aligned and confronting relationship as shown inFig. 2.

The lower ends of th channel irons I2 are slantingly cut-to correspondtothe inclined plane of a plate I! stationarily mounted below and inspacedrelation to the lower ends of the said channel irons l2. Thisplate serves to support the upper leads of a pair of chains Hi, thelatter tures of accomplishment which will become anparent as thedescription proceeds, taken in con nection with the accompanying drawingwherein:

Figure l is a front elevational view of the vending mechanism of theinvention with the front plate of the cabinet removed.

Figure 2 isa fragmentary view in perspective showing the discharge endof one magazine in solid lines and that of an adjacent magazine inbroken lines with the conveyor fragmentarily shown.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the discharge end of amagazine, showing the removed to disclose a series of verticallydisposed and relatively parallel merchandise magazines I I. Thesemagazines are defined by spaced pairs of confronting channel irons l2,stationarily mounted in the cabinet In in the foremost portion servingas a conveyor by which the bottles I511 or like articles of merchandise,are transported to the elevator, the latter to, be described presently.

Thechains H are parallel andoperate over sprockets I5, mounted on ashaft It at one side i of the cabinet and over sprockets ll, mounted ona shaft l8 adjacent the opposite side of the cabinet. v

At one side of the cabinet and preferably directly below the shaft "5 isa motor l9, suitably enclosed in a housing 20. Asprocket 2! on the motorshaft provides a drive for a chain 22 which surrounds a sprocket 28 onshaft iii to thus drive the conveyor chain l4.

Since there are many reliable types ofcoin control mechanisms available,and in view of the fact that any such mechanism would not be consldereda part of the present invention, the mechanism for controlling theoperationof the motor i9 is deleted from the disclosure, it being themotor l9 will operate a period of time sufficient to move the conveyorchains M a distance I equal to the diameter of the article ofmerchandisc, or the bottle l5a in the present case. The

purpose of so timing the mechanism will be ex-- parallel chains 24,operating over sprockets 25 and 26, the latter being mounted on shafts21 and 23 respectively, which are parallel both relatively and withrespect to the conveyor shafts l6 and I3. A chain 28a drives shaft 21from a sprocket on shaft [8. Mounted on the chains 24 are receptacles 29which, as clearly apparent in Figure 4, are inclined with respect to thedirection of travel of their supporting chains 24. These receptacles arecaused to be moved into register with the discharge end of the conveyor,that is, the upper leads of chains l4, in, timed relation with thearrival at this point of the spacers 30, mounted at spaced intervals onthe chains i4 to maintain proper positioning of the bottles l5a. As areceptacle 29 reaches a level with the discharge end of the conveyor, abottle [50. will roll into the receptacle preparatory to being carriedupward towards the discharge opening 3| (Figure 4) of the cabinet, andthrough which the bottle is caused to be propelled by gravity into areceiving chute 32, by virtue of the inclined plane of the receptacle 29of the elevator. The wall 33 (Figure 4) serves to hold the bottles inthe open ended receptacles 29 until the opening is reached and is inregister with a receptacle. It is apparent therefore that as the bottlesare successively discharged from the magazines progressively, theconveyor causes them to successively move to the discharge end of theconveyor, to be caught up and elevated to a point of ultimate dischargethrough opening 3|, accessible to the customer.

0f outstanding importance amongthe elements of the present invention isthe magazine closures by which is made possible the progressive emptyingof these magazines. One of these closures is mounted on the discharge ofeach magazine and consists of a plate 34, adapted, when operative, toclose the lower end of the magazine, as shown in broken lines in Figure3 and when inoperative, the plate rests on the floor l3 of the inclinedport the column of articles in one magazine by the weight of the columnin the next adjacent magazine, and by 'thefact that the articles alreadyreleased into the delivery chute or passageway which will not allow theplate to assume its inoperative position. To provide for this, a leverarm 31 is disposed behind the plate 34, bent at a to form an obtuseangle to generally conform to the shape of the plate 34, and furtherhaving a similar bend at b, at which point it is pivoted toa transverseshaft 3.8. The extremity of the lever 31 extends beyond the pivot b andto the end of this extension there is pivotally connected the end of alink 39 which extends downwardly and is pivotally joined to the plate 34intermediate its sides and ends, as shown more clearly in Figure 3.

It is apparent from the foregoing and especially by observing the lasttwo columns of articles in Figure 1 that the column to the left in thisfigure, bears upon the lever 31 at the end away from the pivotb thereof,and the leverage assapea thus afforded will exert a pull through link 38upon the plate 34, sumcient to overcome the weight of the column in theadjacent magazine, provided of course that the weights of the columnsare proportionate. However, this is not the solemedium by which thearticles are held against premature release from the magazines. It willbe noted that until the last bottle Ilia passes the discharge point ofthe last magazine of the assem-- bly in its course down the inclinedfloor l3, the bottles themselves, in engaging the tail of the lever 31,cause the closure plate 34 to be sus tained in operative position asshown in broken lines in Figure 3. Thus, when all but the last of themagazines have become depleted, the last plate 34 is permitted to fall,provided, of course, that there is no bottle therebelow to sustain it.Therefore, the articles will begin to be successively released from thelast magazines as they were from the proceeding magazines, as coins ortokens are deposited into the machine.

In operation, the front panel (not shown) of the machine is removed andbottles l5a are inserted into the receptacles 29 on the upgoing side ofthe elevator as well as into each station defined by spacers 30 to thetop of the inclined passage below the magazines. It is necessary ofcourse, to raise the closure plates 34 and their operating levers 31,thereby closing the magazines at their lower ends. When this has beendone, each magazine is filled to capacity, the bottles being insertedfrom the front, one upon the other, as shown. When-the front panel ofthe cabinet has been replaced, the machine is in readiness foroperation.

Upon the deposit of a coin in a suitable slot, not shown, the motor willbe set into operation to cause the elevator to bring a receptacle 29into register with the discharge opening 3|, allowing a bottle to slide,by gravity, into the receiver 32. Simultaneously, the conveyor l4 wil bemoved a corresponding distance and the low'- est bottle thereon willfall into a receptacle 29 which has moved into a corresponding positionto receive it. As the conveyor thus moves, the entire group of bottlessupported thereby will be moved progressively forward to a new position.

The foregoing performance continues until the magazine at the extremeleft in Figure 1 is emptied, allowing the closure plate 34 to fall,thereby releasing the column in the next adjacent magazine forsuccessive discharge. Accordingly, as each magazine is depleted, thenext precedingmagazine becomes operative until all are emptied ofmerchandise unless of course, they are recharged before this occurs, inwhich case, the operation is repeated.

Manifestly, the construction and process as shown and described iscapable of some modification and such modification as may be construedto fall within the scope and meaning of the appended claims is alsoconsidered to be within the spirit and intent of the invention.

What is claimed is:

,1. A vending machine including an assembly of vertical, parallel,article-containing magazines, a closure plate swingably suspended at thedis-. charge end of each of said magazines but one, a lever pivotedabove said plate and lying partially in an adjacent magazine andpartially underneath said plate and connected with said plate wherebyarticles in said adjacent magazine and below said magazine assembly willbear upon the same to move said plate to close its magazine, means forreceiving and conveying articles of .magazines, means for releasingarticles from said magazines'progressively to-be received by saidconveyor, said means comprising a plate closing the discharge of eachmagazine but one and a lever connected with said plate and having aportion constrained by articles in an adjacent magazine and having abent portion engaged by articles on said conveyor to urge said plate toclosed positionand adapted, upon depletion of said adjacent magazine, toyield to the weight of the articles in a succeeding magazine and meansfor receiving articles singly from said conveyor and for transferringthe same to a point of discharge.

3. In an article vending machine, a series of vertical and parallelmagazines containing articles of merchandise, an inclined, normallycharged conveyor thereunder, a pivoted closure individual to thedischarge of each magazine but one, a lever connected with said closurelying partially in an adjacent magazine, and having a bent portionunderlying a closure sustained by the articles on said conveyor andthose in said adjacent magazine for holding said closure over thedischarge of a filledmagazine said levers adapted upon progressivedepletion of said magazines to' yield to the weight of the merchandisesupported thereby to allow the closures to open,

and means for successively receivingartlcles of merchandise from saidconveyor for individual discharge.

4. In a merchandise vending machine, a plurality of magazines-containingarticles-oi merchandise, means influenced by the weight of articles inone magazine to close the discharge opening of an adjacent magazinebutone and adapted, upon depletion of said flrstf magazine toyield tothe weight of the articles in said adjacent magazine, conveyor meansbelow said magazines positioned to hold articles transported thereby inengagement -with,the closing means of undepleted magazines and to eilect'progresa sive emptying of uncovered magazines andmeans for receivingarticles of merchandise" delivered. at the discharge end of saidconveyor means.

5. In a merchandise vending machine, a series of magazines containingarticles of merchandise, a conveyor in spaced relation to the dischargeend of said magazines onto which articles are singly deposited bygravity from said magazines, a pivoted closure for each of saidmagazines but one, means connected with each of said closures andinfluenced by the articles on said conveyor and .the weight of thearticles in an adjacent .magazine to hold said closure operatively overthe discharge opening of one magazine and effective, upon advancement ofthearticles by said conveyor to yield to the supported weight of saidarticles, whereby to eflect progressive discharge of said magazines andmeans for discharging articles of merchandise singly from said machine.

I JEFFERSON R. DONALDSON.

